Why You Might Not Want to Be Tested for the Alzheimer’s Gene

More than 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s Disease, the sixth largest cause of death in this country. Given that, should you be tested for a gene that would show you to have a predisposition to Alzheimer’s?

“My personal opinion? The short answer is no,” he said in response to a question from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, neurologist and CNN’s chief medical correspondent on Wednesday. “The longer answer depends on context.”

About 20% to 25% of North Americans carry this particular gene—the percentage varies by geography, he noted. That’s a significant number. But the issue with Alzheimer’s is that, thus far, a discovery of the gene that would indicate a higher probability of getting Alzheimer’s between the ages of 75 and 85 wouldn’t influence therapy or treatment, he warned.

It would be a different story if genetic testing could lead to treatment that would forge a better outcome, he said. But Alzheimer’s testing won’t really improve the subject’s quality of life.

“What are you going to do? Tell people not to have kids because they’ll get Alzheimer’s when they’re 75 years old?” Caselli asked.

Another panelist, Dr. Mary Lou Jepson, a former top technologist at Googlegoog and Facebook fb and now chief executive of Open Water, disagreed. Jepson said she has been tested. “Why wouldn’t I want to know?” she asked.

She may have a different perspective based on her personal experience. Twenty-one years ago when she was in college, Jepson was afflicted with a mystery illness that put her in a wheelchair and covered her in sores. The cause turned out to be an undiagnosed brain tumor. Luckily, someone spotted the bill for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan, which led to life-saving surgery.

In her case, early detection definitely led to better quality of life. Her startup, not coincidentally, aims to bring MRI technology, now available only from million-dollar room-sized machines, to the masses in portable form.

Mayo Clinic Taps Silicon Valley to Help People Age Gracefully

Pop a pill and live a long, healthy life. It might not be quite that easy yet, but researchers at Mayo Clinic believe they have found a cell that could hold the secret to aging extra gracefully.

Their research, published in the journal Nature Wednesday, helped patients live longer, healthier lives. The only catch is their patients are mice. But the researchers believe they could someday translate it into a recipe for human longevity, too.

In fact, the research has been so convincing that Mayo Clinic invested in Unity Biotechnology, a San Francisco-based startup built around the researchers’ approach. Other investors in the company include ARCH Venture Partners, Venrock, and Chinese WuXi, and the study’s lead author Jan van Deursen is listed as a Unity co-founder.

The anti-aging method works like this: scientists inject the mice with a drug that pushes out toxic, worn-out cells called “senescent cells.” The senescent cells are old and stressed and don’t behave properly anymore. Instead, they “litter the body with aging” as van Deursen puts it.

Mice that had their senescent cells routinely flushed starting in middle age grew to be much healthier in their older age. They were not only more active and exploratory, they also developed tumors more slowly than control mice. They experienced fewer eyesight problems, less fat buildup, and improved heart and kidney health. On average, these mice lived eight months longer than those that received no drugs. In mouse terms, that’s a one-third longer lifespan.

Because of the way the drug attacks the senescent cells, the mice cocktail won’t work in humans—at least not yet. But Unity proposes to find ways to combat age-related diseases and disabilities by learning more about how these senescent cells behave in people, research that could take years, even decades.

Why has the mortality rate of white middle-aged men gone up in the last 15 years?

The research team first eliminated senescent cells from genetically modified mice back in 2011 and this new research is their first attempt on healthy, regular mice.

And they have been at it longer than their nearest Silicon Valley competition, Calico, the ultra-secret “California Life Company” started by Alphabet CEO Larry Page and Apple Chairman Arthur Levinson in 2013. Calico has partnered with several drug researchers, such as the pharmaceutical company AbbVie. They have also hired lab researchers to work on anti-aging drugs, though the company hasn’t brought anything to market yet.

And this isn’t just California dreaming—it has the capacity to help us all. “If we can translate this biology into medicines, our children might grow up in significantly better health as they age,” says David. “There will be many obstacles to overcome, but our team is committed and inspired to achieve our mission.”

Why pantyhose sales are still surprisingly strong

For much of the 20th century, pantyhose were an essential component of any polished woman’s outfit. But then, many Gen X and Boomers stopped wearing pantyhose years ago, dismissing them as uncomfortable and easily ruined by runs. Most Millennial women have never even worn them, and thanks to more casual office wear, they don’t need to in most offices.

Overall sales for sheer hose are down 8% in the 12-month period ending in September, according to the NPD Group / Consumer Tracking Service, and just last year, Cosmopolitan’s style editor declared that hose was not okay.

But pantyhose is far from extinct. In fact, it is enjoying a small bit of a popularity among younger women, according to the NPD Group. Sheer hosiery had $482 million in sales in the one year period ending May 2015, the NPD Group reports, and 27% of those sales were to Millennials, which considering its increase of 9%, the group calls a notable revival.

What’s driving the popularity

While the fashion-forward (and Gen X) First Lady Michelle Obama does not wear them, Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, a Millennial, notably does. She even inspired the “Kate effect” upon her royal engagement in 2010, boosting sales of styles and brands she wears, and in the case of hose sales surged. Hose have even made some recent appearances on runways,

A Google search for “pantyhose” brings links to major brands like No Nonsense and Hanes, but also shows another modern iteration of the legwear: as an object of fetish. One of the top results is a six-minute voyeuristic video called “Secretary in miniskirt, pantyhose and heels.” Many of the photos appearing at the Instagram hashtag #pantyhose (less than half a million hits, compared to #tights’ 1.1 million and #leggings’ 2.3 million), appear focused on the sexual aspect as well, with a more specific tag, #pantyhosefetish, also bringing up more than 60,000 posts.

And, while many companies have eased up their dress codes, pantyhose are still required in some types of workplaces.

Here’s a rundown of employers keeping the pantyhose industry alive.

Health care: Pantyhose were required wearing for women workers at the Mayo Clinic, but as of June, they’ve been removed from the dress and decorum policy, which forbids jeans, fleece and hiking boots.

But they’re still required in some other health care workplaces. Female officers of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service must wear sheer hose when wearing skirts or dresses. All employees of Summa Health System, the largest employer in Summit County, Ohio with over 9,000 workers, must wear hose or tights if wearing skirts or dresses. (Also on Summa’s list of no-nos: “extreme or faddish” hair colors, visible piercings in excess of 2 per ear, visible tattoos, and going commando.) This did not go over well with all employees, according to posts on the job ratings site Glassdoor.com: “Female employees shouldn’t be required to wear panty hose and closed toe shoes because it just reinforces the misogynistic attitude that women’s bodies are dangerous and must be concealed,” said one worker’s comment. “Even the nuns that work in our affiliated hospitals are wearing sandals and capris.”

Financial services: In 2010 the Swiss bank UBS issued a persnickety 44-page dress code which specified, among many other rules and items of grooming advice (avoid garlic breath), what colors of stockings and undergarments were required (skin-tone). “Always wear stockings with dark trousers. If you wear a skirt, wearing tights remains binding even in hot weather.” That code was mocked, and the company later issued a shorter revision. Anecdotal evidence indicates that in numerous conservative workplaces including corporate, finance, and banking jobs, pantyhose is still either expressly or implicitly required. For lawyers, it can depend on the day’s duties, and if it’s a court appearance day, it can depend on the judge.

Politics: While it’s not required, hose are still worn in Washington, D.C., which the Fashion Whip blog called “one of the last bastions of formal attire in the country,” though the columnists attribute the hose-wearing more to Republican figures and wives. A congressional staffer told them, “Tights are all over the Hill in the winter, on everyone, because we all wear skirts so often. But come summer, the only women in hosiery are staffers who work for Southern, Republican senators. Then it’s sheer, nude pantyhose every day.”

Non-conservative restaurants: Hose doesn’t have to be polished or demure. At the “breastaurant” Hooters, “Hooters Girls” female wait staff wear Tamara brand shiny, tan, footless hose as part of the uniform. The capri-style hose is less likely to run, more comfortable, easier to clean, and fits a range of leg lengths. (Employees also wear slouchy white socks on top.) The Tamara hose are dispensed in vending machines in Hooters bathrooms in addition to being sold online. The Hooters style is also worn by cheerleaders, and the brand also makes a light support line of hose for casino workers.

Flight attendants: Each airline’s flight attendants wear distinctive uniforms, including opaque tights or sheer hose with skirts or dress styles. It’s not just a matter of a complete uniform being part of the airline’s branding, but because of the hours spent working at high altitude, there’s also a safety element. Compression stockings can help prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and there’s a line called Sky-Highs marketed just to flight attendants.

Amanda Pleva, a flight attendant with 13 years of experience, wears Spanx tights for her uniform, but says the DVT concern is a definite threat. “Compression hose is great as well as convenient because it doesn’t snag as much.” That’s fortunate, as Sky-Highs cost $25 a pair–but Pleva said some insurance plans may cover the cost.

IBM Watson Health now counts CVS Health as a partner

IBM’s data crunching service for the healthcare industry, Watson Health, now counts CVS Health as a partner.

The giant pharmacy chain now joins the ranks of other Watson Health partners, including Apple AAPL, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, and Medtronic MDT, which are using Watson to build their own healthcare services on top of.

IBM did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership. An IBM IBM spokesperson wrote to Fortune in an email saying “IBM and CVS are going to work together to create Watson-powered solutions that will then be monetized.”

The goal of the partnership is to make Watson’s number-crunching technology available for healthcare professionals working at CVS Health, which operates roughly 7,800 drugstores. Ultimately, CVS Health wants to use Watson to analyze patient data and improve patient care.

With pharmacies having access to boatloads of healthcare data, like health records and medical claims information, IBM claims that Watson technology could help them better understand a patient’s overall health.

The partnership will also address patients with declining health “who may benefit from proactive, customized engagement programs” created by healthcare providers with the help of Watson, according to the announcement.

“CVS Health and IBM are both committed to improving health and finding ways to engage individuals in their well-being through the use of information and technology,” said CVS Health Chief Medical Officer Troyen A. Brennan in a statement.

The announcement is the latest in IBM’s plans to make its Watson data analytics technology a viable business. The company does not currently share exactly how much revenue Watson is contributing to IBM’s bottom line.

In mid-July, IBM said it would roll out Watson to the Middle East and North Africa. IBM was hoping to catch the attention of Middle Eastern healthcare organizations that might be interested in using the artificial intelligence machine in the same way the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic are doing so.

Doctors say cancer drug costs are out of control

A group of 118 oncologists put their foot down on the rising costs of cancer medication in an editorial in the Mayo Clinic medical journal, the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, on Thursday. The editorial threw its support behind a grassroots patient effort to push for fairer prices from drug companies.

According to the editorial, many cancer patients are bankrupted by the high cost of care. Even for insured patients, a treatment that costs $120,000 a year might only be reduced to $30,000 in out-of-pocket expenses–more than half the average U.S. household income. The cost of drugs is so high that as many as 20% of oncology patients don’t take their medication as prescribed.

Cancer drugs were not always so expensive. Over the past 15 years, according to one study in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, the cost of cancer drugs rose by 10% (or about $8,500) every year. In 2014 alone, prescription drug prices rose 12%.

“High cancer drug prices are affecting the care of patients with cancer and our health care system,” the lead author, Dr. Ayalew Tefferi, who is a hematologist at Mayo, said. The doctors designed a list of ideas that would make cancer drugs more affordable for the people they treat.

The group’s solutions included a proposal to allow individuals to import cancer drugs from other countries, where the medicine is far cheaper. In Canada, for example, oncology drugs are half the price of American ones.

Other solutions included creating a regulatory body that would propose fair pricing after a drug gains F.D.A. approval, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and preventing pharmaceutical companies from delaying access to generics.

“It’s time for patients and their physicians to call for change,” Dr. Tefferi said.

IBM’s Watson supercomputer is learning Arabic in move to Middle East

IBM supercomputer and Jeopardy champion Watson is learning Arabic and setting up shop in the Middle East and North Africa, IBM said Tuesday morning.

The big data service and source of heavy investment from IBM IBM will be rolled out to the region as part of joint venture between Big Blue and the Mubadala Development Company, the investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Mubadala and IBM formed a new company in which IBM is the minority shareholder, Mike Rhodin, the senior vice president of IBM’s Watson group, said in an interview with Fortune. IBM did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, and the name of the newly formed company is still being decided on, Rhodin said.

The goal of the joint venture is to spread the use of Watson throughout the Middle East, especially for startups and universities there to tap into the supercomputer’s data crunching services, Rhodin said. While IBM traditionally courts large enterprises like big banks or telecoms to be customers, in this case it made sense for the IBM to work with a local company like Mubadala to attract smaller organizations in the region as potential Watson users, he explained.

As part of bringing Watson to the Middle East, IBM will be setting up the supercomputer technology inside the data centers of Injazat Data Systems, a Mubadala subsidiary, said Rhodin. Because IBM must abide by local data sovereignty laws, the company had to install the analytic service and the servers for its cloud computing service (which companies can use to access Watson) in the Middle East.

IBM is hoping that with the Watson artificial intelligence service now in the Middle East, local startups looking to create consumer-focused applications, like the next Uber, will use it to build their products, he said.

The company is also banking on Middle Eastern healthcare organizations turning to Watson. The Cleveland Clinic, a U.S.-based academic hospital that’s signed up to use Watson for genomic research, worked with Mubadala to build a hospital in Abu Dhabi a few years ago. The Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic are all users of the IBM Watson Health service, which is essentially a version of the Watson service tailored for healthcare.

Rhodin said that medical problems like obesity and diabetes plague the Middle East like they do in the U.S. and Asia. He’s hoping that Middle Eastern healthcare companies and researchers can tap into Watson much like the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic currently do as a tool that can aid in their healthcare findings.

But it will be a little while at least before Watson can get started in the area.

Right now, IBM is working on teaching Watson Arabic so local residents can better work with the service. And that’s more than just teaching Watson the Arabic equivalents of English words.

IBM is “actually teaching Watson to understand the grammar, the nuances of the culture, and how the spoken word handles the nuances of meaning,” said Rhodin.

Arabic isn’t the only language Watson is being taught. The supercomputer also knows Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese. By teaching Watson different languages, it’s more likely that IBM can spread the technology throughout the globe. The company recently launched Watson in Japan with the help of Japanese telecom company Softbank.

Rhodin estimates that it will take roughly nine months to fully train Watson in Arabic, which is about the same time it takes to train Watson in other languages like Spanish and Japanese.

In the meantime, however, there are a “lot of companies that do a lot of business in English” that can use Watson, said Rhodin.

The move to spread Watson throughout the globe is just another way IBM is attempting to make Watson a big business. While IBM is clearly pushing Watson hard, it currently doesn’t generate as much cash when compared to the company’s other services.

Techstars helps startups get a little more corporate

Techstars, the startup accelerator network with programs across the country, has launched a new feature to help startups connect better with large corporations. Called Techstars++, the program allows startups to embed themselves in corporate partners in order to “explore business development opportunities and other synergies.”

It can make for awkward bedfellows. One participant in the Disney accelerator described the program’s office space, located across the street from the Disney Interactive campus, as “a set decorated to look like a startup,” with exposed industrial pipes and large decals of Disney franchise characters on the walls. One morning, a buttoned-up Disney executive was flummoxed to find that a startupper had moved a Finding Nemo decal from its place in the Pixar section to the clearly off-brand Marvel superhero area. (It was promptly returned.)

But there are indeed “synergies” to be had. The hoodie-wearing startup community, with open floor plans and ridiculous perks, recognizes that it doesn’t have the power, budget, or credibility to land big partnerships, clients, and deals. And the corporate ladder-climbers in suits and stodgy offices lack the flexibility, speed, and independence that allows startups to really innovate. With accelerators, corporate players are able to look innovative and cutting edge as the startups receive mentorship from experienced executives at industry-leading companies.

There are valid questions as to whether the corporations will steal a startup’s good idea or hurt its chances of doing business with any of its competitors. But the programs generally have a positive reputation in the startup community.

The Techstars++ program takes this relationship a step further. Startups that participate in a Techstars accelerator will get a chance to spend two weeks working at the corporate headquarters of partner companies. There, they’ll receive “hands-on mentorship and business development opportunities from the corporation’s network of executives, partners, and community members.” The first partner is Mayo Clinic, which will work with health care startups.

“We have seen firsthand the value that corporations provide Techstars companies from a business development, customer acquisition and networking perspective,” says David Cohen, founder and CEO of Techstars. “We believe that Techstars++ provides a post-program extension to our existing network of over 3,000 mentors, alumni, investors and corporations by providing companies with deeper access to corporate partners.”

Skip the waiting room by visiting doctors virtually

Sitting in the doctor’s waiting room is all about masochism. You’re sick, you’re waiting, and you’re surrounded by people who are hacking and sneezing.

Ron Gutman, CEO of HealthTap, envisions a world where people can meet their doctors from the comfort of their own homes—virtually. Last week, his app, HealthTap, rolled out a new service that lets users consult virtually with doctors for $44 a visit.

Virtual healthcare remains a nascent market. Only 10 million of 1.2 billion annual doctor visits are done virtually, according to research firm IHS. The number of virtual consultations are expected to double by 2018, but that still leaves a lot of room for more. IHS estimates that one-third of all doctor visits could be handled virtually.

When it first launched, HealthTap let patients tap into a network of 60,000 doctors and text them a question for free. A premium subscriber service let users see doctors online for $99 a month. Doctors prescribe medicine, which can be sent to the pharmacy nearest to the patient. In addition HealthTap can send notifications to remind patients to take their medicine.

Concierge, the new service, lets patients meet with doctors virtually at any time and place on an ad-hoc basis. Patients can even ask their own doctors to sign up and join.

“Doctors love it because it’s easy, and insurance companies love it because it’s the way of the future,” says Gutman.

No insurance companies actually reimburse doctors for handling visits via HealthTap, so users must pay out-of-pocket. But HealthTap hopes to eventually get insurance companies on board.

Gutman started HealthTap four years ago to help with the inconvenience of visiting a doctor. As a graduate student at Stanford he did research on personalized medicine and became passionate about health technology and how it can be used to help people. HealthTap grew out of his research, and he now has a team 62 people working on the idea including composed of engineers, products developers, designers and doctors.

HealthTap keeps a portion of the fee for every virtual consultation it handles. The company declined to say exactly how much. Doctors get the rest.

Gutman is careful to stress that there will always be a place for in-person care. “Doctors are very cautious,” he says. “They will tell someone when a virtual consultation isn’t enough and they need to go for an in-person consultation.”

Rules for virtual healthcare vary by state, according to a paper by Pepper Hamilton law firm. Federal laws also apply. But legal definitions are all over the place around virtual medicine, making it difficult for doctors to be certain of the regulatory landscape. A federal bill to standardize things was introduced last year, but has not yet been voted on.

The American Medical Association (AMA) recommends that doctors offer virtual care only to patients who live in the same state in which they are licensed. It also recommends that doctors establish a face-to-face relationship with patients before providing virtual care from them.

Overall though, virtual healthcare doesn’t change much about a doctor’s liability. The biggest change is that virtual healthcare creates a record of the doctor patient interaction. “It’s like anything else, it could protect the physician or condemn them, depending on their actions,” says Mark Kadzielski a partner at Pepper Hamilton law firm.

Still, regulation and reimbursement are only a few of the complexities that need to be worked out before virtual care becomes widespread. Roeen Roashan an analyst with research firm IHS points out that technological barriers to virtual medicine are nearly gone. The remaining obstacle is whether virtual healthcare platforms are easy to use.

“It’s really about what creates less work for doctors” says Roashan who specializes in healthcare technology. “Antiseptics took 100 years to be adopted because it meant more work for doctors even though they delivered clinical benefits. But we’re seeing change, a lot of doctors are ambassadors for virtual healthcare, and so patients will adopt.”

And doctors have a number of systems to choose from. The field is filled with competitors. American Well, a digital healthcare company, founded in 2006 offers virtual consultations for $49 per visit. The Mayo Clinic partnered with Better, a California health technology start-up, to build an app that connects patients to the clinic’s doctors and nurses for $20 a month. And even non-traditional companies are joining in. This summer telecommunications company Verizon launched its own virtual consultation app, Virtual Visits.

The wrinkles are still being worked out in virtual care—the ins and outs of insurance, as well as the precise letter of the law. However, now at least, patients will be have some say in where they suffer: at home, or at the doctor’s office.

Test-driving the Mayo Clinic’s new plan for healthy living

I’m sharing a gym in Rochester, Minn., with 16 men and women. We are part of a pilot program for a new venture called the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Plan. We were told to wear comfortable clothes and athletic shoes, but the hardcore workout we all expected never shows up. Instead, we are introduced to a concept called NEAT, which stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Our bodies are built to move, we are told, and every bit of movement—not just exercise—makes a difference.

A small, clip-on device we had been given, called a KAM (for Kinetic Activity Monitor), measures how much, how often, and how fast we are moving. Each point on the KAM represents a percentage increase over our resting metabolic rate. Low readings are supposed to spur us into action.

We review research that reveals the damage that sitting in front of a computer does to our bodies. We look at studies that show how exercise improves memory and attention span. Other studies are trotted out that discuss the positive impact that exercise has on colon and breast cancer, erectile dysfunction, low back pain, stroke, insomnia, osteoporosis, fatigue, anxiety, depression, dementia, falls, and more.

Here’s the cool part. All these messages are delivered while we are strolling on treadmills, moving along at an easy, one-mile-per-hour clip. No sweat, but we are burning calories, which is the point. The class ends with a quote from Edward Stanley, Third Earl of Derby, who reputedly said: “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”

Return to Rochester

I’ve been a fan of Mayo since 1997 when I traveled to Rochester to participate in the clinic’s Executive Health Program. I had two primary goals at the time. First, to get the answer to a burning question—did an annual physical exam make sense or was a once-a-year strip-and-search overkill? The second was to determine whether the $1,500 Mayo charged for its 2 1/2 days of exams and consultations was worth it.

Dr. Donald Hensrud, an internist who ran the program, was my supervising doctor. He suggested ways to deal with my chronic headache, blood pressure, and cholesterol problems. One of his associates, a urologist, laid out a sensible program for dealing with my enlarged prostate. Another, an orthopedist, assured me that my cranky back was not a candidate for additional surgery.

I returned to Mayo the next year for a follow-up. This time I left with exercises to strengthen the muscles in my neck, good suggestions for dealing with the gout and kidney stones that had appeared since my last visit, and the feeling, once again, that Hensrud and the men and women who poked and probed while I was at the clinic knew what they were doing.

I liked everything about my visits, and I spelled it out in two Fortune articles: “Me & The Mayo,” July 21, 1997, and “The Checkup, Part II,” Oct. 26, 1998. When Hensrud sent me an invitation this February to participate in a pilot for Mayo’s new Healthy Living Plan, it was a no-brainer. Count me in.

And yet, I had doubts. Everyone knows that exercise and sleep are good for you and that extra pounds and stress aren’t. What, I wondered, does Mayo have up its sleeve that’s new and different enough to make its brand of healthy living sink in? The three-day program is priced at $4,500. I couldn’t help wondering what Mayo would do to make sure that the participants would put its recommendations into play once we left town and re-entered the real world.

The Mayo Clinic was founded in 1859. A nonprofit with a worldwide reputation for smarts and a patient roster to prove it, the clinic that started as a one-building facility in Rochester has evolved into an operation that now includes destination hospitals in Jacksonville and Phoenix/Scottsdale plus a network of smaller clinics and hospitals in 64 communities throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Mayo’s more than 7,500 staff physicians, residents, and fellows treat approximately 2 million patients a year. Another 2,000 physicians and scientists are involved in research.

The Executive Health Program I attended continues to grow, attracting 7,760 patients last year. The new Healthy Living Plan, or HLP as it’s called, is just getting going.

Getting Started

At 11:30 Monday morning, our group checked in, got our schedules, and toured the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, a sprawling building that was funded by the founder of Slim-Fast Foods, who will celebrate his 90th birthday in August. The locker room is seriously beautiful. The machines that will measure and test our body composition, aerobic capacity, and strength are awesome. The dining room is lovely. Ditto for the meeting rooms, the kitchens where we will cook low-calorie meals, and the nooks and crannies where we’ll be able to hunker down and chill out.

One other thing: The men and women who staff the center are slim, trim, upbeat, and friendly. I’ve never seen so many healthy bodies and smiling faces. Scary.

Dr. Donald Hensrud (center left, first step) with members of the Mayo Healthy Living Plan.

Helping ourselves to the buffet, we filed into the bright, cheerful dining room and got started. Dr. Warren Thompson kicked things off with the tale of a 40-year-old woman with two kids, a stressful job, too many pounds, and over-the-top blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose readings. He first saw her in 2002. After many ups and downs, relapses and recoveries, she now has the variables under control, thanks to many of the things we’re about to discover.

“The state of being healthy in body and mind is determined in part by genes, behavior, and luck,” Dr. Thompson told us, “but we intend to help you design and implement an individualized wellness plan that will help you achieve optimal health.”

Dr. Thompson presented statistics on heart disease, cancer, dementia, and the other major killers, citing study after study that showed how poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and stress keep surfacing as the culprits. “Optimists live longer than pessimists,” he reminded us, adding: “People who don’t smoke, are physically active, eat at least five fruits and vegetables daily, and consume moderate amounts of alcohol can expect to live 14 years longer than those who don’t.” We’ve heard it all before, of course, but the numbers were sobering.

Dr. Mathew Clark, a psychologist, told us that sources of stress are everywhere, from work and family to unexpected illness and financial problems. “Lack of control,” he said, “equals stress.” One way to get life under control is to put things into perspective by constantly asking yourself: “Is this something that’s going to matter five years from now?”

This was followed by the NEAT experience on the treadmills, then by a presentation from Hensrud, who took us through the key points of nutrition. Our diet has gone dramatically downhill in recent years, he said, and that’s sad because what we eat has a powerful effect on heart disease, cancer, obesity, and a long list of others. Okay. What’s the answer? Recognize that obstacles exist, Hensrud said, create strategies to overcome them, make intelligent changes in your diet, and—with Mayo’s help—make the changes part of your life.

Managing Stress

The rest of the week was a blur. Day 2 started with a 7 a.m. blood test for cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose. This was followed by height and weight measurements; blood pressure, heart, and pulse readings; one stress test to identify strength deficiencies, a second to assess cardiovascular conditioning.

Then things got serious: A series of machines measured the lean and fat composition of our bodies, another examined our muscular endurance, flexibility, and balance. It was impressively high-tech. I particularly liked the Lunar iDXA, an open-air dual X-ray absorptometric device that scanned our bodies, sending back data on bone density, spine geometry, and regional tissue conditioning—or something like that.

Later that day I had my first one-on-one with Dr. Kristin Vickers Douglas, my wellness coach. This was followed by a session called SMART (short for stress management and resilience training) that introduced us to the benefits of five-minute breaks, paced breathing, hugs, and walks around the block. The day ended in a glistening kitchen where a chef demonstrated ways to make healthy food that tasted as good as it looked.

Wellness coach Kristin Vickers Douglas.

Day 3 began with an hour of Yoga. In the next session—Balance, Fitness and Strength—we created personalized physical activity plans, then put them into action. At some point someone told us that Einstein came up with the theory of relativity while riding a bike.

The afternoon started with a hands-on cooking class—we made orzo, mixed vegetables, and chicken—and ended with Pilates. It also included another session on resiliency: We took walks, looked for positives in negative situations, and were told that smiling and saying hello to strangers is a good way to start the day. I’m from New York, I told the class, and I suspect some of this might be problematic.

My final day, which had slots for electives, included a session in the gym where I tried out a bunch of new moves I had learned; another one-on-one with Dr. Vickers Douglas, who gave me new ways to think about resiliency and new things to try; and another spin on the slow-moving treadmills.

Nolan Peterson, a Mayo excercise specialist, with a computer stand that can be used either sitting or standing.

Of all the lectures, demonstrations, and drills, the NEAT wrap-up produced the most surprises. As we were doing our thing, strolling along at a leisurely pace, Nolan Peterson, one of the fittest people I have ever met, spelled out what getting up and moving about can do for the heart, soul, and other key parts of the body.

Peterson introduced us to a family of video games that got us playing tennis and skiing in sync with images on the screen. He showed us desks and ergonomic computer stands that would enable us to stand rather than sit while we worked, and he reminded us about the calories we burned while we were on the treadmills. Slowly but surely, it began to sink in.

My workout routine also has a new look. I’ve been a gym rat all my life, but I was turned on by the new core strengthening exercises I learned. I also figured out what interval training is all about. Rather than rolling along at a steady pace on a stationary bike for 15 minutes, I discovered that peddling at a modest pace for, say, three minutes, then at a fast pace for 30 seconds, then repeating the procedure three or four times, is a great way to get the blood flowing, muscles pumping, and heart pounding in a way that makes the weight lifting, stretches, and other exercises dramatically more productive. It also feels good.

Dr. Vickers Douglas provided another unexpected takeaway. It involved a study by a Harvard psychologist, Ellen Langer, who asked 84 maids at seven Boston hotels to describe how much exercise they got. A third of the group said none. The others said they didn’t work out regularly. After examining the women, Langer concluded that virtually all had the fitness levels of sedentary people. She then divided the group in two. The first was told that pushing vacuum cleaners, scrubbing tubs, and making beds used more than enough energy to meet the surgeon general’s recommendations for daily physical activity. The second group was given no guidance.

A month later Langer re-examined the women. The maids in the second group showed no measureable changes. The ones in the first lost an average of two pounds and showed a 10-point drop in systolic blood pressure and meaningful reductions in their body fat and waist-to-hip ratios. Although they made no changes in behavior, the first group of women felt “significantly healthier” and now considered themselves to be regular exercisers.

Langer saw it as a lesson in mindfulness, a theme that’s developing a growing following. In a Feb. 3, 2014 cover story titled “The Mindful Revolution,” Time magazine presented a series of studies that suggested that “finding peace in a stressed-out, digitally dependent culture may just be a matter of thinking differently.”

Dr. David H. Newman, director of clinical research at New York’s Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, shared similar thoughts in a Jan. 7, 2014 column in the Huffington Post. Pointing to a recent study of candidates for knee surgery, only some of whom actually had surgery, he said: “Subjects who underwent the fake procedure experienced just as much improvement in pain and activity as those whose meniscus was actually repaired.” The effectiveness of fake procedures, he concluded, “is a testament to the power of mind and body, and a critical window into human healing.”

Jamie Friend, resiliency specialist, leads yoga classes.

Hensrud is enthusiastic about the Mayo’s new concept. It’s based on solid medical research, he says, and it works because it’s not one size fits all. “We create individualized plans to help people reach their personal wellness goals, and we stay in touch so the success they achieve here continues once they get home.”

At 3 p.m. on the Wednesday following my return to New York, I received a call from my coach. She asked how things were going. Fine on the exercise front, I said. I’ve incorporated interval training, yoga, and new core exercises into my gym routine. I’m taking the stairs and getting off the subway one stop before my destination. I’m also about to do a lot more standing. In one of those stranger-than-fiction strokes of luck, a Time Inc. staffer overhauled his office recently and I inherited an ergonomic stand. It’s now being installed at my desk, where it will hold my computer and keyboard.

I’m also doing okay on the nutritional front. I lost three pounds while I was in Rochester, and they’ve stayed off. I’ve lost an inch in my waistline. I’ve replaced muffins with nuts. I’m eating healthy lunches, and I pitched in as sous chef this weekend when my wife whipped up one of Mayo’s chicken and orzo dishes.

Stress is another thing. I returned to a huge pile of work, unexpected deadlines, a computer that has a mind of its own, a printer that prints when it feels like it, and a bunch of challenges outside the office, all of which knocked the stuffing out of my plans to be upbeat and happy.

Stuff happens, my coach said. Hang in there. This is a long-term process, and change doesn’t take place over night. When the going gets rough, she said, you might try focusing for a few minutes on an emotionally neutral subject—a character in a novel, say, or a photo on the wall—anything to move your mind into stress-free territory. Later in the call she suggested I might want to add Mayo’s meditation app to my iPhone. I gave it a shot. It only cost $2.99, and turned out to be a cool way to slide 10 minutes of slow, relaxing breathing into a busy schedule.

Dr. Vickers Douglas and I had two more Wednesday afternoon phone calls. She was supportive, made good suggestions, and wouldn’t let me get down on myself. As a result of the calls and my class notes, some of the resiliency stuff I heard in Rochester—the stuff that struck me as airy-fairy—is beginning to make sense. I still don’t talk to strangers on the subway, but I’m smiling and saying good morning to people on the elevator in the Time/Life building. And no one has slugged me yet.

Taking My Medicine

The formal part of the program I attended didn’t kick off until noon on Monday. I used the free time that morning to schedule an appointment at the clinic to tackle a medical issue—chronic dryness and pain in my eyes. After a thorough exam and discussion of the drops, steroids, plugs, and procedures I’ve tried over the years, Cherie B. Nau, a senior associate in the Mayo ophthalmology department, suggested I might want to go for a punctual cautery occlusion, a fancy term for a procedure in which the openings in the corner of my eyes are cauterized shut, closing the passageway through which the modest amount of tears I produce escape.

It didn’t sound like fun, but what the hell. I returned to the clinic at 4:30 that afternoon and was introduced to Heidrun Gollagly, a surgical resident. Dr. Gollagly looked me over and agreed that the procedure would be a good one to try. The tool she planned to use to cauterize the openings didn’t look too dangerous. There will be about three seconds of sharp pain in each eye, she said, and there was. There might be pain and bleeding during the night, she added. There wasn’t. I woke the next morning feeling fine, and now, three months after the cauterization, the dryness and burning I had been living with for years are virtually gone.

It was great to blend a little medicine into my visit to Rochester, and it’s something I suspect others are apt to do. It’s a double play that makes sense.

What’s New

It’s now three months since my visit to Rochester. I haven’t made any real progress on the resiliency front, but I’m working out regularly, doing more walking, and I’ve lost another two pounds.

But enough about me. How are things at the new Healthy Living Plan, which officially launched on June 2? Shaping up nicely, says Hensrud. We’re a startup, a work-in-progress, and new wrinkles are regularly being added to the program. The spa facilities at the Abraham center are now up and running, so participants have an assortment of new electives to add to their schedules. The programs now end with a low-key graduation session at which participants are encouraged to discuss their experiences, share ideas, and swap contact data. Most important, follow-up contacts with Mayo coaches have been extended to six months, and they now include phone calls, secure email messaging, and web postings.